THE EFFECT OF P4C APPLICATION IN THE PHILOSOPHY FOR CHILDREN EDUCATION PROGRAM ON THE METACOGNITIVE AWARENESS OF SECONDARY SCHOOL 5TH GRADE STUDENTS

Abstract

Today's education aims to raise students who think at a higher level and have metacognitive awareness rather than acting with memorized knowledge. With metacognitive awareness, the individual has the ability to reflect and regulate his/her own thinking processes. In P4C, students carry out multidimensional thinking and reasoning activities through philosophical dialogue. Therefore, it is thought that students' metacognitive awareness will increase through Philosophy for Children Education.   This study aims to investigate the effects of Philosophy for Children Education Program (P4C) on metacognitive awareness of fifth grade students. In line with this purpose, the study was conducted with a nested design within the scope of mixed method. In the quantitative dimension of the study, the pretest-posttest control group design, which is accepted as a quasi-experimental design, and in the qualitative dimension, the phenomenology (phenomenology) design was used. The study group of the research consists of 34 fifth grade students attending secondary school in Yeşilyurt district of Malatya province in the spring term of 2021-2022 academic year and the parents of 17 students in the experimental group. In order to collect data, Metacognitive Awareness Scale, student self-assessment form, student diary, researcher diary, audio recordings and parent semi-structured interview form were used.  The quantitative data of the study were analyzed with SPSS 22 software and qualitative data were analyzed with content analysis. As a result of the findings obtained, it can be stated that the P4C Education Program had a positive effect on the level of metacognitive awareness of the students. As a result, it is seen that the students participating in the P4C program are aware of what they really say or try to say. It can be said that students can give logical examples about what they speak, write and what interests them.